New prompt: Disaster
Sure, anything can be one. And then we look closer.
I was about to say, “Introducing Scott Darlington!” but realized I don’t need to… he’s already very much here and writing. You can also catch him on the Medium Curious Pod. He’s relatively new to me though, and I have no idea what I ever did without a regular dose of his brilliance. Enjoy this relatable, transformative piece that effortlessly fell through him a few weeks ago in group.
Disaster
Scott Darlington
Disaster – where is the garbage man? I keep forgetting to put the cans out on Thursday night and then rush to get them on the street Friday morning. I usually remember as I am meditating and hear the trash crashing outside at the house next door. Damnit! Fuck! Why do I keep forgetting this mundane chore that happens on the most regular schedule ever?
Why does it feel like a disaster each time it happens? They are gonna come back again next week. You know, the regular schedule that is so predictable. But I get so caught up in the forgetfulness of it all.
Today the cans are out on time? Maybe? I did forget last night. So, I am now perched at the dining room table looking down at the street anticipating the truck. Which has given me the opportunity to watch the crows hop around on the street and then up to the cans. What are they doing? Nothing is overflowing. They cannot get in the cans. But they are obsessed with them. Does this happen every week and I just don’t notice? Do they feel the potential disaster of it all this week? Or is their presence something else?
David used to love watching the crows at our house. Is this him sending me a sign? Is he inhabiting a crow today? Should I add crows to my signs journal?
God, that feels like a lot. They’re here all day every day and to think they could be my dead husband feels overwhelming.
Maybe THAT is the disaster. He’s back squawking at me via those fucking birds. What a lame joke that would so be him to pull.
Hmmmmm….now they’re gone….
I know. What the fahhh?
You won’t look at garbage or crows or disasters the same way again will you? Thing is, you can do this too… change or deepen the meaning of something simply by staying with it on the page for a few moments longer than you ordinarily would. Try it. Set a timer for 8 minutes, write “Disaster!” at the top of the page (the exclamation point may very well help) and see where you go with it.
If you find you like the process - or at least want to explore it a bit more - come play with us live. Your writing will be greeted and honored by a loving group of folks, which may make you want to write even more. Subscribers get their first Mini-Retreat free.
"Disaster! Blaster!" And I'm sure he rhymes it with "faster" and probably "master," and I'm willing to bet Rob Zombie says "yeeeeeaaaah!" at least once or twice in this song. Can't for the life of me remember which White Zombie album it is, I think La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol. I, from I believe 1992, but although it's a lyric on that album I think it's a song title on Make Them Die Slowly? Or is it called Let Them Die Slowly? There was a mass misprint and I had an LP with one name and a CD with the other and I could never remember which was which. 1990? They did that sort of thing before, "Soul-Crusher" is a song on La Sexorcisto but it's a whole album from years earlier, 1988? I can't remember the year but there's no song "Soul-Crusher" on the album Soul Crusher. I love this sort of poetic resonance, and actually drew inspiration from these records in my own book chapter titles.
[P.S. "Disaster! Blaster!" is the chorus of the song "Disaster Blaster," from Make Them Die Slowly (1989). The first two lines of the song end with the words "master" and "faster," respectively. There's not a single "yeah" in the song, though there are numerous extended notes that are quite "yeeeeeaaaah"-like.]
Sometimes I forget what a JOY it is to be alive and then I pop into this exchange and am reminded! Love these peeps hanging out here!!